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"I brung hi to Kira and Thomas "But then at the end he wanted to feel his way alone I be telling him he can keep Branchie for a helper, but he want to do it all alone So he giiftie See?" Matt pulled at the man's shirt and showed Kira the hem, at the back, from which he had torn the piece of cloth

"I'm sorry," Kira said politely to the man She felt aard and uncertain in his presence "Your shirt is ruined"

"I have others," the ift And I felt a need to findtio"

"And look!" Matt was like a toddler or a puppy, dashing about in excite fro open "Noe be needing soently, "but these be all right They be perking up e give the what!" Now he turned to the blindattention

"What?" The ht here! You probably be thinking we gotta take these plants to the river! But right here, iffen I open this door, she gots water that squirts out!"

He pranced to the door and opened it

"Take the plants, then, Matt," the ive them their drink"

He turned toward Kira and she could tell that he kne to feel her presence in his darkness "It's e've brought you," he explained "It's the plant that my people use to make blue dye"

"Your beautiful shirt," she ain

"Matt told me that it's the sa," he said

Kira agreed "Yes," she said "That's it, exactly!"

"Much the salory vine, I would think," the man said

"Yes, that's true! But how --"

"I haven't always been sightless I res"

They could hear the sound of running water "Matt? Don't drown theet more!"

He turned back to Kira "I would be happy to bring more, of course But I think you won't need that"

"Please," Kira said, "sit down And we'll have a meal sent up It's time for dinner anyway" Even in her confusion, she tried to reift of great value Why he had done it, she couldn't begin to coreat distance with no eyes and no guide but a lively boy and a bent-tailed dog

And at the last of the journey, when Matt had run ahead with his treasured scrap of blue, the blind man had come alone Hoas it possible?

"I'll call the tenders and tell them," Thomas said

The man looked startled and concerned "Who's that?" he asked, hearing Thomas's voice for the first time

"I live down the hall," Thoer's staff while Kira did the Robe Maybe you don't understand about the Gathering, but it's just ended, and it's a really impor --"

"I know about it," the man said "I know all about it

"Please Don't call for food," he added firmly "No one must know that I' fro our dinners to ested "We'll all share it There's always reement, and Thomas left the room to summon the tenders Matt scampered behind him, alert to the prospect of food

Now Kira found herself alone with the stranger in the blue shirt She could tell fro hiht things to say to hiood boy," she said after a s in his excitement He didn't tell you my name I'm Kira"

The blind man nodded "I know He told me all about you"

She waited Finally, into the quiet, she said, "He didn't telleyes into the rooan to speak, faltered, took a breath, then stopped

"It's beginning to get dark," he said finally "I'ht"

"Yes"

"It's how I found e We had planned to wait and arrive at night, in the darkness But there were no people about, so it was safe for us to enter in daylight Matt realized it was the day of the Gathering"

"Yes," Kira said "It began very early in the ht

"I res And I rerown, of course But I could feel the shadows I could feel ht fell"

He smiled wryly "I could smell the butcher's hut"

Kira nodded and chuckled

"And when I passed the weaving shed, I could smell the fabrics folded there, and even the wood of the looms